Methods of Teaching Music to Children (Reflection on Ch. 3)

Assignment: Choose 3 points of interest from this chapter (quotes & a brief reflection)

p. 50 "An adaptation of the French Cheve system of rhythmic mnemonics is also a critical technique, particularly for younger children, in learning rhythmic values and their relationships in a patter. The chanting of 'ta ti-ti's' is well known as a technique to be used by students of every level for mastering difficult rhythms."

I remember using the "ta ti-ti" rhythms in middle and high school (I had the same teacher who worked in both schools). I would be interested in learning more about the different systems of rhythm mnemonics... I wonder what the advantages of one system over another would be? Disadvantages of some systems? Something I noticed about this chapter is that it seems like it's all about the different paths you take to get to the same goal.

p. 52 "Orff believed children to be naturally musical, uninhibited in their expressive movement, and more receptive to his brand of musical training than adults. The collaborative efforts of Orff and Keetman resulted in the establishment of the Schulwerk method and the publication of five volumes of chants, songs, and instrumental pieces called Music fur Kinder (Music for Children)."

I mention this section because it reminded me of a program that I used to participate in when I was (I think) pre-school and/or kindergarten aged, though possibly I was older - the program was called "Kindermusik." I just looked up Kindermusik, and (according to Wikipedia), Kindermusik is "is a method of early childhood education in music and movement. It combines the early learning music methods of Carl Orff, Zoltan Kodaly and Suzuki method with early childhood development research. The Kindermusik philosophy is founded on the following fundamental beliefs: every parent is the child's most important teacher, every child is musical, the home is the most important learning environment, music nurtures a child's cognitive,emotional, social, language, andphysical development." So, it seems to be a combination of some of the music learning theories we've studied so far... cool. In the concluding section of the chapter, the following sentence occurs:

p. 64 "All teachers make choices in the techniques and musical materials they select for use with children, and most might conceivably be judged as showing an inclination toward one or another known method. Still, the personalization of these techniques and methods following training is the true test of the teacher's in dependent musicianship and ability to lead children in their own musical development."

Kindermusik seems to be simply a selection of choices from various methods, combined to form a new venue for musical instruction. It is somewhat daunting at this point to imagine that I will be faced with the choice of what method to use in instructing children in my own classroom in the future, but it's also encouraging to know that I have as many choices (and more) as are presented in this particular text. I suppose the only way to discover what works is simply to trysomething. I'm glad we have so many opportunities here for teaching our peers and others. I think that helps... a lot.